It might seem strange for me to be so into a coffee flavor diagram, given that I don’t even drink coffee. But for a non-coffee drinker, I am one of the biggest coffee lovers you’ll ever meet.

To be clear, it’s not that I don’t drink coffee so much as I can’t drink coffee. I learned this in college when one cup left me supine in the student lounge with heart palpitations. I am very, very sensitive to caffeine. (Which I hate to admit because it makes me feel so delicate. Like one of those Victorian girls always on the verge of a fainting spell.) I drink two cups of weak tea a day, well-spaced. A third makes me a shaky mess. After a very poor night’s sleep, I might get away with a little swig of decaf. But regular coffee is an unequivocal no-no.

So I envy the coffee drinkers, leisurely sipping their foamy lattes while reading the paper. The ones calmly downing cold brew at their desks like it’s water. Or the incredible few who manage to order an espresso after a long meal, and exhibit no perceptible jolt in their constitution.

Maybe I love this diagram, then, because it gives me a small, synaesthetic taste of the multitudes of coffee in a form I’m able to experience: color. The deep pink berry flavors, the pale papery ones, the warm spicy, maple-y ones. Instead of making me feel like I’m missing out, it kind of makes me feel like I’m part of things. Which is an awfully nice thing for design to do, right?

(Also it’s a color wheel. The love child of two of the most joyful aesthetics around: color and circles! What could be more joyful than that?)

Image: SCAA
Via: Food52